Merchandise presentation must satisfy requirements of both retailers and suppliers. Retailers demand displays which will allow normal presentation of products, adapt to existing fixtures, and require minimal installation, e.g., come with the product loaded and ready to sell. Suppliers need a display which can be assembled and shipped with minimal labor, material, and storage requirements.
Conventional merchandising strips in commercial use have a series of tabs or clips onto which items of merchandise are secured. The loaded assembly is hung from price channels, shelves, walls, gondolas, wire racks, or S-hooks by the retailer. Such merchandising systems are sold under the tradenames Safety J-Hooks, Wonderhooks, and Sell Strips. The former includes J-shaped hooks which project horizontally into an aisle from shelving. The curved end of the "J" prevents products from dropping off the horizontal arm unless intentionally removed. This design is inconvenient since products extend outward into aisles and only the first item is easily reached. The Wonderhook, a variation on the J-hook, has a vertically angled design that does not project into the aisle. Items are layered on the hook for better viewing and flatter profile, but the first item is still the most reachable.
A "Sell Strip" is a long, rigid piece of plastic with multiple projections or tabs along its length. Products for display are mounted on these tabs. The loaded assembly, consisting of a rigid strip and products, must be wrapped to retain products on the strip during shipping and storage. The resulting package is large and cumbersome, and the retailer must unwrap the assembly before it can be displayed. However, the flat, layered design of the strip minimizes the amount of retail space used by the display, and allows items to be removed individually by the customer. Metal versions of these strips having clips or jaws to hold products are also in use but are more costly to produce.
Certain products such as lollipops have been sold in long, foldable strips, e.g., a series of individual plastic packages connected end-to-end. The products are displayed end to end and occupy more space than layered products. This kind of packaging system is not useful for many products.
Conventional strip display systems solve some of the problems facing a retailer, but create other problems for both retailer and supplier with shipping, storage, materials, and labor. Strips loaded with products which can nest uniformly, such as batteries or film, are easily secured. However, products of unusual shape or bulk are difficult to package and ship when assembled on strips. Movement readily causes such products to disengage from the strip. Shrink-wrap films or sleeves fastened with rubber bands or tape make the shipping cube manageable, but introduce higher material and labor costs. Unwieldy cubes stack poorly, occupy more space, and increase shipping and storage costs.
Despite the foregoing problems, retailers prefer displays preloaded with products. An entire sub-industry known as "jobbers" has developed to meet this demand. Jobbers buy in bulk, load products on strips, then deliver the loaded strips to retailers. Retailers prefer to buy direct from the manufacturer to eliminate the costs of intermediaries such as jobbers. A display system is needed which can eliminate handling problems by securing and arranging products for shipping and storage in an economical manner.